binary articles
What fundamental property does Kepler’s law of binaries primarily allow astronomers to calculate for a stellar pair?
Where is the central body located according to Kepler’s First Law of planetary motion?
What is the direct implication of Kepler's Second Law (the law of areas) regarding the speed of an orbiting body?
In its simplest form for the Solar System, what proportionality does Kepler’s Third Law establish?
What is the term for the common center of mass around which two gravitationally bound stars orbit in a binary system?
Why does the standard Solar System proportionality ($P^2 imes a^3$) break down when applied to binary stars?
If the total mass of a binary system is known, what second relationship is necessary to determine the individual masses ($M_1$ and $M_2$)?
What value does the Binary Mass Function yield for the unseen star's mass if the system is viewed perfectly edge-on ($i = 90^ $)?
If the inclination ($i$) of an unseen companion's orbit is unknown, what does the mass function establish for the companion's heft?
Which component is explicitly included in the generalized mathematical expression of Kepler's Third Law modified by Newtonian mechanics?
What primarily allows astronomers to determine the mass of most stars, including our Sun?
What is the formula used to calculate the total mass ($M_1 + M_2$) of a binary system based on the refined Kepler's Third Law?
How is the mass ratio ($ rac{M_2}{M_1}$) of two stars related to the semi-major axes ($a_1$ and $a_2$) of their relative orbits around the center of mass?
What crucial information is required to convert the angular separation measured for a visual binary into the physical semi-major axis ($a$) needed for the mass calculation?
Spectroscopic binaries rely on measuring spectral line shifts to determine orbital velocity. Which physical phenomenon causes these shifts?
What is the major limitation when calculating the mass of components in a purely spectroscopic binary system?
How does an eclipsing binary system resolve the inclination uncertainty that plagues standard spectroscopic binaries?
What important physical characteristic of the stars, besides the orbital period, is determined by analyzing the timing of eclipses in a light curve?
When combining dynamically derived mass measurements with observable properties like luminosity and temperature, what does a strong alignment between these data points confirm?